Star-System TW Hydrae --"Harbors Several Thousand Earth-Sized Oceans"

 

           

The star TW Hydrae, located about 150 light-years from Earth, is only about 10 million years old, and is currently in this planet-forming stage. Because TW Hydrae is relatively close and bright, and because it rotates with its pole pointed nearly directly towards the Earth, scientists can view the star's disk of material nearly face on to study what is happening.

One outstanding puzzle is how rocky planets (like the Earth) can acquire their water. Most scenarios argue that the Earth's water arrived later on - via comets from the outer solar system. Thus a focus of recent astronomy has been the study of the composition of the outer parts of the young stellar disk.CfA astronomer Gary Melnick, a leading expert on water in space, joined with a team of colleagues last fall to use the Herschel Space Observatory to look for traces of water around TW Hydrae. 

The team reported finding convincing evidence for a reservoir of water ice in this star's disk -- with inferred quantities of water ice amounting to several thousand Earth-oceans. Moreover, they discovered from details of the ice chemistry that probably the ice comes from a mixture distributed throughout the system. The results gave convincing support to the current scenario of the origin of the Earth's oceans.

The Daily Galaxy via Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech 

Comments

[farticustheelder]

Good place to focus on if we are looking for evidence of alien life. According to (bad) science fiction, the place should be crawling with water pirates. These water pirates are so thirsty they will de-hydraete the place in no time flat.

[Pete]

What is water? Hydrogen and oxygen, the two most common elements. Well, helium is more common than O2 but.........

[Dante D'Anthony]

Water pirates? Bah, please. Everyone knows there is no such thing in the starlanes, Buck. Water Marauders is the term.

[California Z]

Water, water, everywhere,

but none to drink.

[james]

Water pirates eh! "what rubbish". There is so much water in the Universe, "it's everywhere", why would anybody want to steal the stuff?. it's a bit like going to the beach and stealing a grain of sand.

[katesisco]

Since we are engaged in sci fi here, I will add my 2 cents worth.

I go along with the common source: hydrogen and oxygen but then again how to preserve the ox? Very reactive and will off gas. I am not sure I go along with the cloud-land cycle. Scientists have discovered that deep water is not included in the cloud cycle. Majorite (look it up) is a rock that is 48% water. Hard to believe, isn't it? Its held deep in the Earth as is supposed to sublimate on its nearing the surface.
Now just how did this majorite get there? What kinds of pressure would be needed to make water in rock? What kinds of processes were involved?

If you desire to do so, think further. What would cause a world wide flood? Is there a cycle (or in this case WAS) that expanded the Earth allowing the water to go deep, then the heliosphere reasserted itself and the Earth pulled back together. Instant deep water. This theory only requires the acknowledgement of our strange geologic history.

[MikeL]

The space Marauders are Dehydrating the water and taking it to their space bases all that belong to me

[james]

dear god.. water pirates are coming

[singaporistu]

@katesisco: when you say "What would cause a world wide flood?" are you referring to Noah's arc story? LOL .... so the underground Majorite created enough water to fill earth Surface area 510,072,000 km2 up to 8km height, melt all in one instance and after the flood solidified went back to earth? man, what you been smoking LOL

and btw how was a 137 by 23 by 14 meters wooden boat fit 10 000 000 000 beings and many more plants, when titanic had 269 by 28 by 53 and only could fit 3000